w it best of
all.

The day came on which Rupert was to return to London. Scarcely a word
had been interchanged between him and Kitty since the conversation which
has been recorded. She thought, as she stole furtive glances towards him
from time to time, that he looked harassed, and even depressed, but in
manner he was more cheerful than it was his custom to be. When the time
came for saying good-bye, he held out his hand to her with a kindly
smile.

"Come, Kitty," he said, "let us be friends."

Her heart gave a wild leap which seemed almost to suffocate her; she
looked up into his face with changing colour and eager eyes.

"I am sorry," she began, with a little gasp. "I did not mean all I said
the other day, and I wanted to tell you----"

To herself it seemed as if these words were a tremendous self-betrayal;
to Vivian they were less than nothing--commonplace sentences enough;
uttered in a frightened, childish tone.

"Did you not mean it all?" he said, giving her hand a friendly pressure.
"Well, never mind; neither did I. We are quits, are we not? I will not
obtrude my advice upon you again, and you must forgive me for having
already done so. Good-bye, my dear child; I trust you will be happy."

"I shall never be happy," said Kitty, withdrawing her hand from his,
"never, never, never!" And then she burst into tears and rushed out of
the room.

Vivian looked after her with a slightly puzzled expression, but did not
attempt to call her back.

It was not a very favourable day for Hugo's suit, and he was received
that afternoon in anything but a sunshiny mood by Miss Heron. For almost
the first time she snubbed him unmercifully, but he had been treated
with so much graciousness on all previous occasions that the snubs did
not produce very much impression upon him. And, finding himself alone
with her for a few minutes, he was rash enough to make the venture upon
which he had set his heart, without considering whether he had chosen
the best moment for the experiment or not. Accordingly, he failed. A few
brief words passed between them, but the few were sufficient to convince
Hugo Luttrell that he had never won Kitty Heron's heart. To his infinite
surprise and mortification, she refused his offer of marriage most
decidedly.

CHAPTER XLII.

A FALSE ALARM.

Angela's departure from Netherglen had already taken place. Hugo was not
sorry that she was gone. Her gentle words and ways were a restraint upon
him